HONESDALE -- Two police officers in Honesdale decided last month to see who could write more parking tickets.
Between the two of them, they wrote out close to 100 in one Saturday.
It angered lots of folks in Wayne County, including the ones who were attending funerals at the time.
Borough officials said there were nowhere near 100 tickets given out on Saturdays all last year, but on the last Saturday in December, during two funerals, including one for a former Wayne County Sheriff, those officers upset a lot of folks, prompting borough council to look into whether anyone should have to pay for parking on Saturdays at all.
John Dowd was having lunch in downtown Honesdale and made sure to feed the parking meter. Monday through Friday a borough parking enforcement officer makes sure others do the same when they park.
But on Saturdays, it's up to Honesdale Police to make sure people pay to park. Thing is, the department wasn't doing it much at all, until the last Saturday of 2014.
Two of Honesdale's finest went to work, writing nearly 100 tickets. The police chief said every one of those tickets was for an expired meter, but he and a borough council member admit it was excessive.
"We apologize sincerely for any mishandling or misconduct completed," said council member Bill Canfield.
The borough then voided all those tickets or offered a refund to people who had already paid their five dollars.
"All it is is sometimes spiteful," said Dowd.
While those tickets may have been by the book, folks we spoke with said it was not right to suddenly enforce the parking meters on a day when two funerals were being held downtown.
"No, it`s not right, for what? They need the money that bad?" questioned Dowd.
"That's very disgraceful, people at a funeral don`t deserve to have to pay parking meter money at all," said Suzanne Pauswinski of Waymart.
At Guenther's Ski Haus, the owners noticed the officers going around writing tickets and wondered what was going on.
"If they're going to have it, enforce it. If they're not, then take it away. Customers would shop more on the weekends if they kept it away," said Amy Hopkins of Guenther's Ski Haus.
Now borough leaders are toying with the idea of making it free to park in Honesdale on Saturdays with a decision to come later this year.
"Saturday and Sunday, let's give people a break. Let's give customers, citizens, out-of-towners a break, no meter parking," added Canfield.
Honesdale's police chief said he told his officers to enforce parking that Saturday and that the order came from Honesdale Borough Council, but he never expected to have so many tickets given out that day.
Police will not be ticketing for any expired meters on Saturdays until council makes a decision.
